A core independent peripheral (CIP) is a peripheral device in a microcontroller, or system on a chip, that does not require support from the central processing unit (CPU) of the microcontroller for its operation, while the CPU may be used to initialize and configure such a peripheral device. Thus, once such a CIP device is configured and started, for example by the CPU, it operates on its own and frees processing power of the CPU core for other tasks. For example a counter, once triggered, starts counting independently from the CPU, a direct memory access controller performs block transfers from/to memory without CPU interaction, etc. Using CIPs decrease parts count, manufacturing costs, and increase reliability and versatility of a product. Many products greatly benefit from such cost savings, increased versatility and reliability. One such product may be used for ultrasonic ranging applications.